Hundreds joined in for One Billion Rising: Charlottesville on Tuesday, February 13 to stand in solidarity against the exploitation of women.

We danced, sang, made art and built community at Ix Art Park as a part of an international movement to end violence against women. The Women's Initiative hosted the event alongside Sexual Assault Resource Agency (SARA), Shelter for Help in Emergency (SHE) and Planned Parenthood South Atlantic.

Across the world, 1 in 3 women is the victim of violence during her lifetime—the name “One Billion Rising” captures this staggering statistic as well as our commitment to change this devastating pattern.

One Billion Rising: Charlottesville featured Max- Robinson of “In My Humble Opinion” on 101Jamz, Erin Lunsford, Nia, Charlottesville Jazzercise, Chihamba, the Charlottesville Women’s Choir, Break the Chain and Shankari Bowmaster and The Ascendants, as well as MoxBox Social Photobooth.

Blue skies, cool weather and hours of country fair fun…these are the words that describe this year’s Family Barn Party. The turnout was our largest ever with more than 500 kids & adults in attendance. Collectively—through ticket sales, leaves for our family tree and sponsorships—we raised $95,000!

The creative contributions and planning prowess of co-chairs Kristin Cory, Barkley Laing, Holen Lewis and Monica Prichard, as well as the dedicated support of committee members and volunteers, made it all possible. Throughout the year, volunteers contributed 1500+ hours to ensure success. Whether sewing bunting, arranging flowers, flipping hot dogs, preparing honey jars, signing invitations, recruiting bull riders, or greeting guests…our volunteers were AMAZING.

The Women’s Initiative is so grateful to all those who contributed to this year’s event. THANK YOU. Your belief in our mission is truly saving lives.

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor or a volunteer for the 2018 Family Barn Party, contact Director of Philanthropy Kerry Day at (434) 872-0047 x103 or kday@thewomensinitiative.org.

SPONSORS

Generous contributions from corporate sponsors ensure that 100% of event proceeds goes directly to vital mental health services for women in need. We thank the following companies for their philanthropic giving and compassionate support. Our agency and our community are stronger because of their giving.

The Greater Charlottesville community came together Tuesday morning to commit to addressing trauma as a major public-health issue.

Theresa Caldwell, left, and Dr. Allison Sampson-Jackson.

Dr. Allison Sampson-Jackson and Theresa Caldwell lead a conversation entitled “Trauma: How it affects you and every member of our community” at the Paramount. More than 700 people were in attendance.

The Women’s Initiative was a co-host of the event in partnership with Adiuvans, the Greater Charlottesville Trauma-Informed Community Network, ReadyKids, Piedmont CASA, the Community Mental Health and Wellness Coalition and the Early Education Task Force.

Toxic trauma is the result of prolonged or multiple exposures to adverse childhood experiences, abbreviated ACEs, such as physical, sexual and emotional abuse. A landmark study in the 1990s established that these experiences are common and can impact many aspects of physical and mental health, even leading to early death. Additional research is also connecting multigenerational trauma and historical oppression of minority communities to negative health outcomes.

Theresa Caldwell, left, and TWI Board Member Beverly Adams, PhD.

A recent study, for example, found that 61% of mental health conditions that caused a disruption in work or other activities for 14 days or more were related to ACES.

“People are dying, going to jail, suffering...we have to be able to talk about it,” Sampson-Jackson said.

Sampson-Jackson and Caldwell also stressed that resilience—the ability to bounce back from difficult experiences—can be built and nurtured in individuals, families and communities.

The Women’s Initiative is committed to being a leader in trauma-informed care in Central Virginia. TWI Executive Director Elizabeth Irvin, LCSW, is on the steering committee of the Greater Charlottesville Trauma-Informed Community Network and is co-chair of the Community Mental Health and Wellness Coalition. And, as a part of our 2016-2020 Strategic Plan, The Women’s Initiative is creating a comprehensive trauma program to bring greater awareness of all the ways to heal trauma—including therapy, movement, groups and education.

To learn more or become involved in the Greater Charlottesville Trauma-Informed Community Network, email Trauma@PCASA.org and include your name in the body of the email.

Working toward enhancing our cultural humility approach throughout our organization and the community, The Women's Initiative is co-sponsoring a community education session on cultural humility and implicit bias this December.

Eboni Bugg, LCSW, RYT will be presenting the talk on implicit bias and cultural humility on Monday, December 4, 5:30-7:30 pm, at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center.

"We feel as health care providers that we want to make sure we are doing our part to cultivate a community that is culturally humble and is aware of biases," Jackie Martin, the director of community benefit at Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital, told CBS19 News. Sentara, UVA Health System and the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center are also co-sponsors.

The presentation is free, but space is limited. RSVP by Monday, November 27 by calling 1-800-SENTARA.

We are so fortunate to have the keen eye of volunteer art curator Terry Coffey selecting and hanging artwork for the walls of our offices. This fall and winter, Terry has brought to our main office the works of seven BozART Fine Art Collective artists. We are celebrating this exhibition with a First Fridays reception from 5:30-7:30 pm on November 3. All are welcome.